Vitiligo: a review of the pathogenesis

Vitiligo is a cutaneous pigmentary disorder caused by selective destruction of melanocytes and is characterized by progressive, patchy loss of pigmentation from skin. The cause of vitiligo is not fully understood. There are a few major hypotheses for the pathogenesis of vitiligo which include the genetic, neural, autoimmune, biochemical, and melanocytorrhagy theories. The objective of this paper was to comprehensively review the body of literature supporting the various theories behind the pathogenesis of vitiligo and present the most relevant findings. A comprehensive literature review of vitiligo studies was performed on Pub Med. This article explains the most relevant findings for the five main theories that have been proposed as the underlying cause for vitiligo. It was concluded that while etiology of vitiligo is not fully understood, great strides have been made in gaining a better picture of the various causes of vitiligo. There is substantial amount of evidence supporting the genetic, neural, autoimmune, biochemical, and melanocytorrhagy theories of vitiligo which provides a solid foundation for future research.